Mr Frenkie Interview

Russian producer Mr Frenkie was one of the winners of our recent remix competition with Dom & Roland. His Get Up remix has just come out on Dom’s DRP label so we took the opportunity to find out more about him.

When did you first try your hand at producing?
Since I began understanding what’s going on around me, back when I was a kid, I realised that I needed to write music. In Russia during the early 90s, as you can imagine, I had no facilities for it. So I spent 15 years of my life listening to music. Lots of music. When I got my first computer back in 2005, I immediately began my exercises in production.

How would you describe your approach to making music?
It’s like working in a science lab where I’m trying to create something new but based on old school. Original old school sounds always inspire my music, no matter which genre I work on.

You’re also part of the duo Phlegmatic Dogs, tell us more about that…
Back in 2010 I met up with a great producer called Dima Demyan and we decided to collaborate. We started with deep house, but now we’re more into bass music. Let me tell you a secret – we’re working on mini-album. It promises to be awesome, at least we believe in it.

What labels have you previously released on?
For a long time I was published by the main Russian drum & bass label Tam Records, owned by DJ Bes. I’ve had drum & bass releases on Mindtech and a dubstep release on Play Me too.

Tell us about all the different styles of dance music you produce and are there any you’re currently not making you’d like to try?
You could say that I’ve dabbled in almost all styles of music. Apart from trap, haha! My preferences are bass and hip-hop.

What are you currently working on?
I’m currently working on a few drum & bass tunes, their fates are still unknown. As I mentioned before, I’m also working on completing the Phlegmatic Dogs mini-album.

Do you have anything coming out soon?
There are several completed tunes but I’m not hurrying to sign them anywhere for a while.

What’s the next challenge for you?
I didn’t write drum & bass for a long time, I’ve been working mostly on house music. Nowadays I’m coming back to drum & bass music and hope I will never leave it again.

Anything else you’d like to tell us about?
Winning this competition is a great achievement for me, remix competitions like this are an amazing opportunity to show yourself to the world. Thanks to Kmag and Dom!